Suhr Reactive Load Vs Fractal Audio X-Load

[James Freeman]

If you have both of these units there is a useful way to switch between the two quickly, use the 'THRU' output of the first unit to the load INPUT of the second unit, this bypasses the internal load but still sends small DI signal from the first unit.
Pulling the speaker cable out of the 'thru' output of the first unit returns the load of the first unit back, for a quick switch between the units.
!!!! Don't pull the wrong end of the thru cable !!!

It's another way to use the Suhr RL IR passively, as a load only.

 

[gergohajer]

@JiveTurkey

A quick comparison of these two load boxes. Everything is the same in the setup for both. Monomyth modded Marshall 1987x slightly boosted with a Boss SD-1. Noise gate and IR loaded in the DAW.

Which do you prefer:



Note the Fractal needs power, either phantom or 9-24v 5amp.

Those riffs sound familiar. :-)) Sounds killer dude! My ears prefer the second one (a bit darker).

 

[Deadpan]

Those riffs sound familiar. :-)) Sounds killer dude! My ears prefer the second one (a bit darker).

Your riffs are killer!

 

[James Freeman]

Bumping this to say that I use my reactive loads almost daily, they are indispensable tools for people who love tube amps and live among people.
I'm also going to say they prolonged the relevance of big tube amp heads just a little longer.

 

[Desertdweller]

Bumping this to say that I use my reactive loads almost daily, they are indispensable tools for people who love tube amps and live among people.
I'm also going to say they prolonged the relevance of big tube amp heads just a little longer.

Agreed 100%. When I got my first reactive load box about 7 or 8 years ago, it changed my world. Before that, I was running all kinds of Rube-Goldberg machines to get the sounds I needed.

Before I got my first reactive load, I was running the effects loop out jack of my amp head into my DAW to capture the preamp of the amp, and adding in a RedWire impedance curve and IR to get the sound of the amp. I'd then stack 2 tracks of a modeler like the Pod HD500 or Axe FX Ultra to fill out the sound.

Now I can just run an amp into my Suhr RL, add my IRs I captured of my cab in the DAW, and I can record huge sounds from 100w heads while the kids are sleeping in the next room. It's awesome.

 

[EOengineer]

Similarly - the reactive load setup, the Suhr in particular, has been the most significant step forward I’ve taken in amp recording in a decade at least.

Sonics aside it just takes so much guess work out of the equation being able to dial the amp in within the context of the track.

 

[Mikael Dez]

Just ordered a Suhr non-IR to replace my janky Julius loadbox!

 

[Orvillain]

Just ordered a Suhr non-IR to replace my janky Julius loadbox!

They're really good.

 

[EOengineer]

Just ordered a Suhr non-IR to replace my janky Julius loadbox!

You will not regret it. Literally using mine right this moment. Such a useful tool.

 

[Mikael Dez]

You will not regret it. Literally using mine right this moment. Such a useful tool.

There’s no way I can turn up my amps when my family is home and NOT piss them off lol, and that Julius loadbox was cool but it’s likely not doing my amp any justice, so it’s a no brainer to replace it

 

[Mongillo19]

The Suhr RL is wonderful. The St Rock IR 2 has replaced it for me but the Suhr is a close 2nd

 

[Desertdweller]

Just ordered a Suhr non-IR to replace my janky Julius loadbox!

 

[FuzzyAce]

Just ordered a Suhr non-IR to replace my janky Julius loadbox!

You'll like it! I have the IR version which doesn't get the same love but it's great too.

 

[Mikael Dez]

You'll like it! I have the IR version which doesn't get the same love but it's great too.

I like that the non-IR doesn’t require a power source more than anything, either choice seems like a win though from what I can tell!

 

[DrewJD82]

I definitely wouldn't be playing this thing in my apartment at all, never mind these settings, if I didn't have the Suhr. I have no experience with other load boxes, but had enough experience with the amps into cabs to know it works fucking great. Only reason I went for that over the Fractal was because I found one used for like $50 cheaper than I could have gotten the Fractal at the time.

 

[Mikael Dez]

I'm going to set it up in 4CM - I'll try both but would y'all run the unbalanced out with a 1/4" or would you run the balanced out with a 1/4" adapter?

 

[bikescene]

I'm going to set it up in 4CM - I'll try both but would y'all run the unbalanced out with a 1/4" or would you run the balanced out with a 1/4" adapter?

I’ve always used the unbalanced output since I use the SRL into an instrument input.

The balanced output of the non-IR version has somewhat of a high output impedance (“less than 6.6k” from their website), so you may need to consider the input impedance of the next inline device depending on your application.

 

[Desertdweller]

You'll like it! I have the IR version which doesn't get the same love but it's great too.

I didn’t like it. It does something terrible to my IRs that other load boxes don’t do. It was a nearly-instant return for me. I’ve personally found the original Suhr RL to be superior.

 

[Chocol8]

I didn’t like it. It does something terrible to my IRs that other load boxes don’t do. It was a nearly-instant return for me. I’ve personally found the original Suhr RL to be superior.

The IR version does use short IR’s which are limiting compared to other cab sim options these days, but has the benefit of active outs. I think the loads are the same.

 

[Desertdweller]

The IR version does use short IR’s which are limiting compared to other cab sim options these days, but has the benefit of active outs. I think the loads are the same.

The idea to limit IRs to 20ms when a large amount of IRs are 200ms-500ms was not a good call by Suhr.